Chuck Sweeny: Caruana first out of the box in 2014 sheriff’s race

For as long as I can remember, there hasn’t been a real contest over who’s going to be sheriff of Winnebago County. Often, sheriffs retired midway through their term so a handpicked successor could take over.

For as long as I can remember, there hasn’t been a real contest over who’s going to be sheriff of Winnebago County. Often, sheriffs retired midway through their term so a handpicked successor could take over. In 2014, though, voters may get a chance to choose among several candidates.

Sheriff Dick Meyers, a career law enforcement man who started with the Sheriff’s Department in 1967, has been the county’s top cop since 1997 when Don Gasparini retired mid-term. Meyers has been handily elected and re-elected ever since. Although Meyers runs as a Democrat, he’s not a politician. Will he run for yet another term?

Meyers said Friday that he’s weighing his options, “and I’ll have an announcement in two weeks.”

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Last week, a Republican entered the race. Gary Caruana, a member of the Rockford Board of Fire and Police Commissioners appointed by Mayor Larry Morrissey, announced he’ll be a candidate.

Caruana, 56, is retired from a 26-year career at UPS, where he ended up head of security for the parcel service in Illinois, including the UPS air-hub at Chicago Rockford International Airport. He was a sheriff’s deputy in Winnebago County for several years before that.

And, with Morrissey’s campaign strategist Jim Thacker running his campaign, I expect Caruana will be well-funded and well-coached in how to run the race. I asked the Rockford native, resident and East High School graduate about his qualifications.

“In 26 years at UPS, in several operations, my primary focus was security manager of the Illinois district, including Chicago, the suburbs, Rockford, the Quad Cities and the state of Illinois,” he said. At UPS he worked closely with several federal law enforcement agencies “and I worked with drug interdiction teams in the city of Chicago.”

“I started in Rockford, where I was in the planning team that built the Rockford (airport) center.”

I asked him why he decided to run for sheriff.

“I’m just not ready to retire. I see that crime in our region has worsened over the past several years, and we need to get it back in line for the safety of our residents,” Caruana said. “People tell me they’re in fear for their safety. I believe I have the expertise to help change that, and bring my public and private sector experience to work together in a regional approach to crime fighting.”

In the corporate world, Caruana explained, “we worked together as a team to not have silos, to develop what worked for the greater good.”

Because “silos” is one of Morrissey’s favorite words, I next asked Caruana if the mayor had asked him to run.

“No,” he said. “Nobody asked me to run.”

Caruana said he wants to save tax dollars by consolidating key police services such as anti-gang and anti-drug forces.

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“There’s no reason Rockford, the county and Loves Park should have their own SWAT teams. We can have one SWAT team, one drug team, all working together,” he said. That will require overcoming some strong personal disagreements, and Caruana said that professionals have to rise above personality clashes for the common good.

“A team approach is how you’re going to get things done. We need to come together,” Caruana said, “whether we’re in different squad cars or not, we can save taxpayer money.”

The police agencies in the county “need to sit down in a room and form a task force together, not as one agency. We have to work as a team. Whatever the pinch points, we have to find those out. What is main problem? What is the stopping point? The office of sheriff needs to take that leadership role within the county. He needs to offer that leadership to everyone; to say, ‘This is where we need to go.’ That’s where we really need to be tenacious and create that leadership.”

Caruana has a masters degree in business management from Webster University and a bachelor’s degree in management and leadership from Judson University in Elgin. He is on the advisory board of Keep Illinois Clean and Beautiful and has been a Court Appointed Special Advocate.

There are several other potential candidates waiting in the wings to run for sheriff, so stay tuned.